Lego Land Discovery Center

This weekend, we visited the Lego Land Discovery Center in Schaumburg.

We were really excited about the visit because of other good reviews we've heard and the website makes it look awesome. I'm sad to say that it didn't live up to expectations. It wasn't terrible but I doubt we will be back. The coolest part, by far, are all the Lego models on display.

Through the front door, you have the option to go left into the retail shop or right into the exhibit. Obviously, we went right. We bought our tickets online and printed them at home so all we had to do when they opened was present our tickets and go on in. A word of caution, they do have some coat racks but the space is highly limited so either leave your coat in the car or be prepared to haul it around all day.

The first thing you see is Miniland


It is a replica of the Chicago waterfront done in Lego. They have Navy Pier (which the kids thought was fantastic since that was were we had been the day before), The Sears Tower, the Hancock Building, Millinium Park, etc. They have lights on timer to simulate day and night and even have a little Lego Batman standing on the Sears Tower. I really liked Miniland and was impressed with the level of detail that was included.

Miniland is also the "staging area" for the Jungle Tour.
I was totally unimpressed with the Jungle Tour. Basically, it is an area of models that you go through as group. They let between 40-50 people in at a time and every group is given a test sheet. As you go through, you are supposed to stop and look at the models and answer questions about them. Unfortunately, because you aren't allowed to go through on your own, there are too many people in too small of a space and not only can you not answer any of the questions, you can barely see the models. I was really disappointed and we ended up just walking through and getting out of the way.

The Jungle Trail exits into the Hall of Fame These models were absolutely the kids' favorites. This is where you find the life-sized models of Darth Vader (complete with light saber), Batman, Indian Jones, Harry Potter, Hagrid and R2-D2. The kids spent more time looking at those models (and posing for pictures) than at any other part of the place.

The Hall of Fame is next to the

Dragon Ride. It is a very cute ride through a castle, although it does get dark towards the end and young kids might be scared. It is not a roller coaster but closer to a train ride. I recommend going through 2 or 3 times to see everything because there are lots of details that are easy to miss on the first trip through.

Once done there, we headed upstairs to the

Lego Factory Tour. This looks a lot better on the website but is basically cheesy. The best part was getting our commemorative brick at the end. The first machine is really loud and once it starts up, it is impossible to hear what they are telling you about the making of the Legos. Our tour guide also talked to fast and wasn't able to tailor her spiel to a specific age group. Fortunately, I had a basic understanding of how Legos are made and was able to explain it to MT so she could understand.

After the factory tour, we went to the

4-D theater. I entered this with fear and trepidation because I dislike 3-D in general and 4-D is usually so over done that it is just a miserable exprience. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the end of the movie. It is currently "SpellBreaker" about a wizard who takes over a kingdom with his spell that destroys weapons. We were told that there are water effects in the movie but that the day before they came on as a waterfall instead of a mist and were turned off on Saturday. My first comment about the movie was that it was REALLY well done 3-D. Most 3-D is still a little blurry, even with the glasses on, but this was really crisp and looked great (so great, in fact, that TB nearly jumped out of his seat during the scene where the rhino charged the cage). My other comment is that the 4-D was also well done, in that it wasn't over done. There were a few spots when I thought a 4-D effect was warrented that they didn't have one but I'd rather it be under than over, when it comes to that kind of stuff. It was also subtle. Air blew around when you were falling, bubbles fell when it was snowing but there was nothing to scare the younger crowd.

After the theater, we went into the building center, where they have tons and tons of Lego bricks to build all kinds of stuff. There are several test tracks to test your model cars on.

There were earthquake similator where you build a building and then it shakes it to see if it is stable.

There is a large climbing structure for kids that are done with the blocks to run around in. There is a large Duplo area for the toddlers and there is a section with huge soft blocks for even littler kids to play in. TB had a great time building and testing cars and MT liked the earthquakes. She was too practical though, and never got anything to fall because she built them too well. There were a couple of employees walking around, helping the kids build their models who seemed to work really well with kids. They both knew what they were doing, as far as building, as well.

This was also the area where the cafe was. It was pretty basic and not somewhere I would have eaten a meal. However, we go too many places that have no food of any kind so I was glad to see it. We did have some snacks and drinks there and it was fine.

After the building area, we had seen and done everything there was to see and headed for the gift shop. I was disappointed with the gift shop. Besides being over-priced (the theme to the whole place), there wasn't much unique there. I expected to find hard to find pieces, unique sets, etc. Unfortunately, they had a lot of wall space devoted to the same kits you can buy at any Toys R Us. We did find a new Lego Star Wars shirt for TB, but it was the ONLY youth shirt in the whole store. The big find of the day was the Lego figure keychains. Lego people will know that people are often the big draw of the kits because they can't be bought seperately. What we found were characters from most of the major sets made as keychains. They were $3.99 a piece and we bought several of them. When we got home, we took a pair of pliers and opened up the O-ring holding the keychain on and took it off. They all have little metal knobs stuck in their heads but the kids don't care. They have Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

Finally, the only model picture I took with my phone so the only that is getting uploaded. MT hanging with Spongebob

Overall, it was neat to see the models and things and the kids had a decent time in the building area. I would go back again just to see the new 4-D movies that are coming out.

This would be a really great trip for a crazy Lego fanatic and is best for ages 6 and up.

I'm giving this 2.5 stars because there wasn't enough bang for our buck, in my opinion. If I'm paying $20 to get into something, it better give the kids more than a couple of hours entertainment. And that couple of hours included going back and doing some things a couple of times, just to kill time.

Children's Museum of Chicago

This weekend we went to the Children's Museum of Chicago. We were there a little early and were able to see some of the Navy Pier shops while we waited. Once we were able to get in, we were directed to the "other admission" desk because we were using our pass for a reciprocle ACM membership. Normal price is $9 for adults and children 2 and up. Seniors are $8. This is a smaller museum (compared to something like Indy, which I realized I have never reviewed) but offer plenty to keep the kids entertained. We started on the second floor, where the admission desk is and quickly made our way through the children's museum standard "health and safety area" They had exhibits on riding in and driving an ambulance, why you should buckle up in the car and how to call 911. The best part of the second floor was the climbing schooner. There is a "below decks" area, that includes some playground type climbing equiptment and a slide. Adults aren't comfortably able to get below so I would suggest this area for ages 5 and up, unless you have a super independant preschooler (MT had no issue climbing down and playing by herself). They also a net tube that goes all the way to the second floor. It is recommended for ages 5 and up but younger kids can climb with guardian permission. MT couldn't be held back once she found out her brother was going up so we just met them at the top. On the third floor, there is a short net tube that goes up to a rope cage that kids can climb through to get to the "suspension" bridge (sections of it move but it is totally supported) to exit.

From there, we went to the skyline building area. MT had a good time pounding the nails into the foam board they had out but that is a rotating exhibit and is only out occasionally. There is plenty to build, with real wood, bolts nuts and tools. I was impressed that they used real hardware instead of plastic junky stuff. MT screwed a few screws but mostly wasn't interested. TB, on the other hand, was enthralled. He built (surprise, surprise) a Star Wars ship

that he and Nonni worked on for nearly an hour.

Once he was done with his building, we went on to "Snow Much Fun" (Waterworks was closed or we would have stopped there but it is water, things that float, etc, can't say anything bad about it LOL). They had the BEST exhibit ever in the snow area. It is "Pretend to ice skate" and it was great. They have a large piece of linolium on the floor that is waxed and the kids slide around on it in their socks. They placed some fun music and the attendants really got involved with the kids. The guy attendant was getting the kids to skate like airplanes, then having them run and fall down and slide across the floor. The girl was having the kids practice jumping and falling and sliding like penguins. Because they were involved, it kept it from turing into a free for all and having someone get hurt. When they were done skating, they built a snow fort out of interlocking cardboard blocks and had a snowball fight with white puff balls.

Then we went to "Big Backyard" where the kids had their pictures taken and their faces were put on bugs. I wish they would have had a print out option because they were cute but you could see them on the screen. They dressed up like bugs and played in the giant shoe. The best part of that area was the shadow wall. One side has rain falling down it and the other side has butterflies. If you stand still in front of either one, the things will interact with your shadow. They rain will fall around you and the butterflies will land on you. It was a lot of fun.

From there, it was the museum standard "pretend town" They have a grocery store, a bus to drive and a mechanic's shop. Nothing exceptional about it but it is something that all kids seem to enjoy.

After lunch (the museum doesn't have food but the Navy Pier food court is right around the corner and you have in and out priviledge) we started on the first floor. The first floor includes the gift shop and the art area.

The art area had a huge table to do art at. They had the standard markers, glue scissors, etc but they also had cardboard boxes, metallic paper, mailing tubes, etc that the kids could use to decorate or create other things. They also had a stage where the kids could do a show and tell of the things they made or perform for the group. Neither kid used the stage, but we did spend a fair amount of time in the art area.

According to the map, there was an aquarium on the first floor as well. We ended having to ask at the gift shop where it was because it is actually between the two levels on a landing. We assumed, being called an "aquarium" that it was fairly large and TB was quite excited (he wanted to go to Shedd's while we were there but we had other stuff planned and couldn't make it this trip). Unfortunately, it 2 small fish tanks with maybe 10 fish between the 2. We were pretty disappointed.

Overall, the museum was good but I'm glad I had free admission because it is too small to justify the $9 per person admission.

I would rate it 3.5 stars